Jeffrey Greenberg, former chairman and chief executive of Marsh & McLennan Cos., is proposing to set up a new insurance company in Bermuda .

Mr. Greenberg?s proposal is one of several such business plans to be put on the table since Hurricane Katrina, people familiar with developments said. Hedge funds and private-equity firms are behind the new interest in entering the Bermuda insruance market. These cash rich, private investment pools are attracted to this market because of the high risk/high return nature of reinsurance. Only two or three of the proposals are expected to successfully make it off the ground, in contrast to the wave of start-ups after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and 1992?s Hurricane Andrew.

Mr. Greenberg?s proposal is to set up a Bermuda company funded by Aquiline Capital Partners, a private-equity firm he and partners from New York-based Venturion Capital are currently raising money for.

Mr. Greenberg?s interest in setting up the new venture comes nearly a year after he stepped down from Marsh & McLennan. His departure from the leading insurance brokerage followed a probe being launched by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, although Mr. Greenberg was not accused of any wrongdoing.

If Mr. Greenberg succeeds with his proposal, it will effectively make the Island an outpost for the Greenberg insurance dynasty. Evan Greenberg, chief executive of ACE Limited, controls a Bermuda-based global insurer with a market capitalisation of $14.15 billion. And father, Maurice (Hank) Greenberg, the former chief executive and chairman of American International Group Inc., is chairman of Starr International Co., a privately-held Bermuda company that holds about $18 billion of AIG stock as its biggest asset.